Kris Mordecai (he/they) is the COO and Deputy CFO at SAGE where they lead the Finance, HR, IT, and Facilities teams for the organization. They bring two decades of experience in nonprofit management, administration, and organizational leadership for progressive social change. Kris’s approach puts an emphasis on bringing mission-aligned, values-based strategies to financial management, human resources, talent management, and general operations policies and procedures.
Before joining the team at SAGE, Kris served as the Director of Finance & Operations at the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), where they worked to apply AVP’s anti-oppression values to all aspects of making the organization run, including finances, operations, human resources, IT, and facilities. For Kris, this means applying an antiracist lens to HR and workplace culture policies and decisions, employing a participative and collaborative budgeting process that reflects the organization’s collective values, and striving to create trauma-informed workspaces in both the physical and virtual environments. Prior to their work at AVP, Kris led the financial and operations functions for two other LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, GLSEN and Out & Equal, for a decade. Over the years they have impacted the movement by pushing for intersectional approaches to LGBTQ+ advocacy, progressive change in internal management and policies, and better trans-inclusion within movement organizations.
In addition to their work at SAGE, Kris serves as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service where they teach Human Resources & Leading Talent Development in the Master of Public Administration program.
Kris is currently the Treasurer for Urban Sketchers, a global organization that promotes storytelling through on-location drawing, with over 120,000 members across 60 countries. They have served on Urban Sketchers’ board finance committee for the past five years. When they’re not working for SAGE, teaching, or volunteering, you can usually find Kris out exploring the world on a bicycle, cooking fancy meals at home, or drawing and painting.
